Warm Up

10 minutes

I start by having the students face the 1-200 class number grid.

"I want to practice counting numbers between 90 and 120 today. I will place a green dot on one number and a red dot on another number. We will start with the green dot and count to the red dot. Sometimes we will count forwards and sometimes we will count backwards. Who can give me a number between 90-120? Who can give me another? "

I then mark both numbers with the dots and then rote count as a class. I will repeat the activity several times.

The CCS expect that students can count to 120, starting at any number less than 120 and in this range, read and write numerals and represent a number of objects with a written numeral (CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.NBT.A.1). This activity allows students to practice their counting in this range.

Introduction of Adding It Up

15 minutes

Advanced preparation: You will need to make enough copies of the Adding It Upfor your class.

I start by gathering the students around the whiteboard easel. I want them to be able to see the easel and the how I Introduce Adding It Up. I have drawn the recording sheet onto the easel, so that the students can easily see how I am recording each move (see Modeling How to Record).

"I want to teach you a new game that involves you adding one number to another by using counters, using the strategy of counting on, and recording your moves with equations. In order to play, you will need to use a recording sheet, a die, and some counters.

You will roll the die and record the number you rolled. You will then get that many counters and put them in front of you. You will then write down the number you have in "Now I Have" column of the recording sheet. You will then write an equation to represent your action and your total.

You will then repeat this procedure for 9 more rolls."

After I explain the directions, I model the game a couple of times until I am sure most students get it. I then have the students go and work on their own sheets.

Playing the Game

Students will then play this game for the next 30 minutes. For some kids, they will get through two games. Others will only get through one.

This activity has students counting and keeping track of a growing collection of objects. This activity also encourages the use of the counting on strategy.

As students are working, you will want to see how accurately the students are counting and if they are using a strategy for keeping track. You will also want to observe the strategies that students are using to find the total after each roll. You might see students recounting the entire set of counters each time or counting on from the previous total. You will also notice that some kids just know some of the sums because they've achieved that level of fluency.

In this situation, the students are applying the math that they know to solve addition situations and then represent those situations with an abstract equation (CCSS.MATH.PRACTICE.MP4).

Lesson Wrap Up

10 minutes

I use the closing discussion to review the idea of counting on from a known quantity and to discuss the idea of organizing the counters to allow for more efficient counting. Much like the discussion used to introduce the game, I play a few round with the whole class and ask for suggestions.

While students were working on their own, I noticed a student organizing his counters so that he could easily keep tack if his total (see video Organized Strategy For Keeping Track and Counting). I asked him to share his approach with the class. I showed the students this same video and then had the student explain his strategy to the class.

Organized Strategy For Keeping Track and Counting.m4v

Continued Practice

5 minutes

I will ask the students to meet me on the carpet and hand out their sheet for today's Mad Minute exercise. This routine was introduced in a previous lesson. Please check out the link to get a full overview of this routine.

I want to really focus on fact fluency and build upon the students ability to solve within ten fluently (CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.OA.C.6). I am going to use the Mad Minute Routine. This is a very "old school" routine, but I truly feel students need practice in performing task for fluency in a timed fashion. Students need to obtain fact fluency in order to have success with multiplicative reasoning. Students who don't gain this addition fact fluency by the end of 2nd grade tend to struggle with the multiplicative reasoning in third. Having this fluency also allows them to work on more complex tasks because the have the fact recall to focus on the higher level concepts.